The Dumas 190614

1
The Dumas 1906-14

• Were the Dumas ever anything more than a talking
  shop?
• Did they represent an opportunity for Tsarism to
  modernise itself?

2
The First Duma, April-June 1906

• Early in 1906, the Tsarist regime negotiated a
  loan from France, this lessened the likelihood of
  the duma being able to exercise a financial hold
  over the government
• Moreover the Fundamental Laws declaring that
  Supreme Autocratic Power belonged to the Tsar
  limited the Duma along with a 2nd chamber within
  the Duma to be appointed by the Tsar with the
  power of veto

3
The result was the Duma met in a mood of
bitterness

• Elections had returned a duma dominated by
  Liberals and reformist parties
• Demanded rights and powers to be increased
• After 2 months the duma was dissolved

4
Response of parties

• 200 Kadet and Labourist deputies reassembled in
  Finland urging the people to refuse orders and
  taxes
• This led to violence given the government an
  excuse for action
• Stolypin was appointed chief minister and he
  introduced his policy of repression
• Martial law was proclaimed
• Between 1906 and 1911 there over 2,500 executions
  took place the hangman,s noose became known as
  Stolypins necktie

5
Effect of Kadet failure

• Liberal cause had discredited itself
• The left and right of the party argued that the
  future of Russia lay either in socialist
  revolution or extreme reaction

Peter Stolypin
6
The second Duma, February -June 1907

• Kadet seats were halved
• The SDs and the SRs between them returned 188
  deputies
• As a result there was disagreement within the
  Duma as well as with the government

• Stolypin despite his policy of repression was
  willing to work with the Duma to introduce
  reforms found his land programme opposed
• The 2nd duma was dissolved after 3 months

7
The third Duma, November 1907-June 1912

• The Duma was not dispensed with altogether due
  to
• Foreign policy, projected image of Russia as
  democratic nation
• New electoral laws restricted the right to vote
  to the propertied classes, 1 in 6 males could
  vote, now dominated by right wing parties

Alexander Guchkov
8
The third Duma, November 1907-June 1912

• With the parties redressed in this way, Stolypin
  developed better relations with the 3rd Duma
• This enabled him to pursue his land reforms
  without opposition,
• Although the Duma was not entirely subservient,
  among the 2,571 bills it approved were social
  reform measures that included a scheme of
  national insurance for industrial workers

9
The fourth Duma, Nov 1912- Aug 1914

• Again dominated by parties of the right
• Alienation of even moderate representatives
  intensified
• By 1913 the Duma often witnessed warnings of
  impending political upheaval

Mikhail Rodzianko became critical of the Tsar
10
The fourth Duma, Nov 1912- Aug 1914

• Strikes deemed to be political rose from 24 in
  1911 to 2,401 in 1914
• The quality of ministers appointed by the Tsar
  deteriorated nonentities and incompetents

Sergei Witte
11

• After 1917 historians dismissed the later Dumas
  as having merely rubber stamps of government
  policy
• However modern scholars tend to be less critical,
  referring to the dumas frequent criticisms of
  government policy and their productive work in
  education and state insurance
• They therefore argue that the Tsarist government
  prevented the dumas from making a greater
  contribution to Russia